1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a new and improved method and structure for filling any beverage receptacle selected from a plurality of standard sized cups or an extra large beverage receptacle with carbonated beverage, having automatic shut off of dispensing when the carbonated beverage level reaches or approaches the rim of the beverage receptacle, and with complete and stable support of the extra large receptacle during dispensing and shut off.
2. The Prior Art
The use of a tilted open topped receptacle for filling has been well known and used since at least as early as the 1900's.
U.S. Pat. No. 763,136 has a continuous canning line wherein open top cans are filled firstly with solids and then secondly with liquid. The filled can is then tilted to spill out any excess liquid so that when the cans leave the tilting area and are returned to vertical, the cans all have an identical fill and identical head space. The cans are thereafter topped and closed.
Subsequent canning lines have been utilized wherein the open topped cans are filled while tilted. Cans are now being filled with liquids, mixtures of solids and liquids, and flowable solids while tilted. When the cans are returned to upright, even and consistent fills and head spaces are provided regardless of can size. Examples of state-of-the-art fillers of tilted cans and bottles are made by Solbern Corporation of Fairfield N.J. and a typical specific example is shown in B. C. Eisenberg U.S. Pat. 4,349,053.
W. C. Buttner et al U.S. Pat. No. 2,055,923 teaches that a glass or like beverage receptacle should be placed beneath a pour spout and disposed at an angle or tilt from vertical and to the spout so that beverage discharged from the spout will hit the side of a glass at a slight angle to minimize carbonation loss and foaming.
S. D. Levings U.S. Pat. No. 2,598,665 teaches a carbonated soft drink dispenser having a cup support which will hold the cup at an angle with respect to the user and with respect to vertical, and to the dispenser so that the forward side of the cup is slightly higher than the back, serving to confine any overflow to the rear of the cup and improve the appearance of the cup of beverage after filling. The cup is canted rearwardly at an angle of approximately 10 degrees. The cup has its rear top edge below the bottom of a dispensing nozzle.
Both Buttner and Levings were assigned to Bastian Blessing Co. of Chicago.
Lawrence D. McIntosh U.S. Pat. No. 3,916,963 is also directed specifically to beverage dispensing and teaches the concept of and structure for manual start and automatic shut off of dispensing by utilizing an electrically conductive combination actuator and beverage probe lever that engages a cup and electrically contacts and senses the dispensed beverage when the beverage reaches or approaches the rim of the cup.
Arthur M. Reichenberger U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,553 is a development after McIntosh. Reichenberger provided energization of the beverage and signal current flow through the flowing beverage stream during dispensing, through the beverage in the cup and to the combination actuation and beverage probe lever. An elongate, straight electrically conductive actuator and probe lever has a sliding angled projection to electrically engage the beverage in various heights of cups. This particular device did not satisfy sanitation criteria and while having been field tested and found operable, it has not been commercially successful as of this date.
Clay Bennett U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,692 is generally similar to Reichenberger, except that Bennett has removed the sliding probe of Reichenberger which Reichenberger used to get a shut off below the rim of the cup. Although not disclosed in Bennett, commercial embodiments of Bennett's device sold by Bennett's assignee use a cup rest which is tilted toward the electrically conductive combination actuator and beverage probe lever so that the cup is rearwardly tilted during dispensing and shut off, with a lowest point of the cup rim being in physical contact with the probe. After shut off and when the cup is removed and returned to vertical (upon a horizontal surface), the beverage is below the rim by about 1/2 the amount of the tilt of the cup rim. When the cup is on a horizontal cup rest and standing vertically as shown in Reichenberger, the beverage can go upon and over the cup rim anywhere on its diameter and not necessarily where the probe is. Were this to happen, the dispenser would not shut off. The tilted cup rest is a solution to the problem of being certain of shut off before beverage overflowed out of the cup someplace other than where the cup contacted the probe.
D. E. Holcomb et al in co-pending U.S. Ser. No. 824,819 filed on Jan. 31, 1986, has devised an improved McIntosh type structure with a low moment combination actuator and beverage prove lever utilizing a high strength low mass tubular lever arm mounted on a dielectric journal to give improved electrical isolation. A heater element in the lever arm provides high temperature which can keep the lever arm sterile. Holcomb further shows and teaches that the use of a relatively simple tilted cup rest with a McIntosh type automatic filling control is well know. Holcomb has also provided an electrically conductive plastic lever and probe that is dielectrically isolated from its fulcrum to prevent premature shut off of dispensing.
F. Brill U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,792 has a receptacle rest with a bottom mounted stop on a horizontal support surface for stopping a variety of cups below a nozzle. Brill's stop acts directly upon the bottom of a cup.
Where we are with McIntosh, Reichenberger, Bennett and Holcomb is that we have a device that will now automatically shut off with various sized cups or glasses, regardless of the size of the cup, provided the cups are of reasonable height and volume and they fit upon and in the dispenser. Specifically very small containers and extra large containers are not usable, but typical standard sized beverage cups in the range of 6-16 ounces are quite acceptable. While these devices have offered measurable and economically important savings of time and increases in productivity, further opportunities and problems have been realized.
Mathews U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,974 teaches a dispenser having tilted bottle rest in a complete beverage dispenser which was designed from scratch to fill two liter plastic (PET) beverage bottles while the bottles are tilted on and supported by a bottle rest which is completely within an existing spill trough.
Many of the beverage and food establishments serve dispensed beverage in cups or glasses and significantly larger beverage receptacles. For example, draft beer retailers will sell small glasses, mugs, and/or large pitchers of beer. Soft drink retailers such as pizza parlors and hamburger houses will serve small and medium and large cups and also very large pitchers of soft drinks. The standard sized cups are typically of paper and are relatively lightweight, collapsible, and of low strength. The pitcher is usually glass or plastic and weighs at least a couple of pounds. A filled pitcher of soft drink might easily weigh up to 6 pounds.
The devices of McIntosh, Reichenberger, Bennett and Holcomb have not worked reliably with pitchers. When a pitcher is placed upon the cup rest the pitcher is too large and may fall off of either the front or the side of the cup rest, therefore requiring that the pitcher be manually held in place during filling whereupon the automatic shut off feature and structure becomes redundant because there is no productivity increase or labor savings. Then the pitcher is so heavy and bulky that it bends the actuator and probe levers, and/or breaks the actuator switches connected to the levers after which the dispenser will not work. Further its been found that the relatively heavy filled pitcher tends to slide down on the inclined cup rest and again bend the lever, break the actuator switch, or bend the dispensing valve mount. Most dispensers have a stainless steel splash panel behind the cup rest and the dispensing valves. If and when the combination beverage probe and actuator lever is pushed against the splash panel by a pitcher, the automatic fill control is disabled by electrical shunting.
Farmer et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,253 teaches an ultrasonic cup fill control for a dispenser. This control has an emitter/receiver and electronic logic. This system senses the presence of a cup and starts dispensing, senses the height of the cup with a weak reflection, senses the level of dispensed beverage with a strong reflection and automatically terminates dispensing when the difference between the weak and strong reflection indicates the cup is filled to a specific distance below its rim. This system has not been developed for extra large receptacles of more than a quart, or for pitchers. No effective method, kit, or structure has been devised for retrofitting existing dispensers to utilize this system with other than standard sized cups of less than a quart capacity.
Extra large cups, specifically cups of capacity greater than a quart do not work with the existing embodiments of McIntosh, Reichenberger, Bennett, Holcomb, or Farmer. The reason they do not work is that they are diametrically too large and they fall off of the dispenser if they are not manually held in place. As soon as an employee has to hold the cup in place, the greatest economic advantage of the automatic shut off is negated. The greatest economic advantage is that the employee can walk away during dispensing and do other work to increase output and decrease serving time. Typical extra large beverage cups that are being used as of this date are 28 oz., 32 oz., and 44 oz. capacity. The volume of the extra large cups is trending to be larger and the extreme largest limit has not been determined.
These problems have not yet been addressed or solved, and as of this date there is no known automatic fill control that will work and be commercially satisfactory with the dispensing of carbonated beverage into pitchers, extra large cups, and a variety of standard sized cups or glasses.
There are several hundred thousand beverage dispensers presently in use, that require the constant attention and attendance of a foodservice employee during filling of cups, let alone pitchers and extra large cups which have to be manually held and supported and then manually manipulated for shut off. This is an undesirable and relatively costly and inefficient usage of employee time. A solution to the problems of automatic filling and shut off for pitchers and extra large cups needs to be found, and a solution enabling retrofit of existing dispensers to that they will automatically dispense into either extra large cups or pitchers needs to be provided.